A Casual Fancy

Today was my first field lab of four. A field lab is something that is required for every SAS class that you are in. A class has a field trip of sorts where they go into port in a certain country and be a part of what they are learning about. For my Global Ethics class, we were scheduled to go to Amnesty for Women and the Red Light District in Hamburg to cover the issue of human trafficking.

(Please note that this entry will encompass specifics about prostitutes & their profession)

We started our field lab by taking the metro two stops to go to Amnesty for Women, an NGO. Upon arrival, we toured their offices. We learned that they have a kitchen where they can take cooking classes, as well as a large classroom where they can take sewing classes, watercolor painting classes, and German language classes, among many others. The classes that they offer are at a very cheap price for their clients, who are only women.

Their clients are migrant women, most of which are from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Three women run the organization; each one of the women can reach out to these immigrants because they can speak their languages (Thai, Spanish, Romanian, German, and English). These three areas are also the top three areas for human trafficking. Many women immigrate to Germany because they want to have a better life, and they need to support their families back home. If the clients do not speak German and want to stay in Germany, they must take German language classes as well as a cultural test in order to gain temporary residency.

The organization started in 1986 because of the huge amounts of people who were involved in human trafficking every year. During this time, people were not required to have a visa to come to Germany; therefore, it was very easy for people to come to Germany as a safe haven. It was also much easier to be trafficked into. However, in 1989 Germany started to require visas to gain entrance into the country in order to lower the numbers of humans being trafficked into Germany.

Many of the women who would immigrate to Germany could not speak German. Therefore, the only jobs that would be available to them would be the low-level jobs that Germans did not want. In addition, most women did not have any papers, so this made finding a job and a residence even harder. Amnesty for Women helped all of these migrant women, and continues to do so today. They got women to have day care for their children, and set up appointments with doctors who would aid them probono. Even with all the help provided from Amnesty for Women, many women do not stop being sex workers once they learn the German language because they become accustomed to the pay rate.

Many of Amnesty for Women’s clients are victims of domestic abuse. Many of the victims grim and bear the abuse for a while because in Germany you need to be married for three years before you gain residency to live here (if you were a migrant who married a resident). Some women do ask for help before three years. Many friends of victims usually come for the help and ask for an address for a safe haven for the time being. Germany also has a law allowing the mother of a German child to stay in the country, so this helps many of the women.

For more information email info@amnestyforwomen.de or go to www.amnestyforwomen.de.

 

After Amnesty for Women, we went to the Reeperbahn in St. Pauli, which is the Red Light District in Hamburg. We walked up Grosse Freiheit (Great Freedom Road), which is the main strip club road. This road got its name because it was a great freedom not only for profession, but also for religion.

That is why at the end of this road, there is a church. Next to this church is the house that the Beatles lived in for the two years they stayed in Hamburg. Apparently, the Beatles were famous for doing “stupid shit”(says our your guide). They would pee out of the window onto the nuns walking to the church next door, among many other shenanigans. Their first venue was across the street at Kaiser Keller.

At the end of this road is the only Beatles monument in the entire world. It contains the fifth Beatle (which I did not know about) far off to the right. He left the band here in Germany because he fell in love with a peasant. Apparently, he lost the girl and he ended up dying from bleeding of the brain.

There is also the last “live sex theater” on this street, called “Safari”. I was quite baffled by this phrase, but our tour guide clarified. He said that there are two men and two women for this performance. The theme of the musical and dance revolved around vampires. One of the couples is married, and the other is not. They actually have sex on stage, and constantly change positions. The only government restriction on this is that “the man cannot orgasm on stage”, which is evidentially why he changed position a lot. Apparently, 80% of the audience is couples, and the women are the ones who say it is beautiful (from what I have been told). After being told this, I was extremely repulsed, yet our prostitute tour had only begun…

We passed a number of brothels and sex shops on the street. There are clearly numerous ways for prostitutes to make their money! Next to one of the brothels is a bathroom (which also contained a bar). It is very easy to open a brothel, but opening a bar required a great deal of paperwork. Therefore, this bar would have waiters run alcohol into all of the brothels next door! This bar is world famous because in the basement, many world champion boxers train. The two German champions in all five categories started there, as well as the girl country champion. Many famous boxers went to this bar, including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

 

After this, we went to where the prostitutes roam around in the night. They all centralize in a plaza near the street that is equivalent to Amsterdam’s Red Light District. This one-block street has a wall in front of it. Women and men under 18 are not allowed to enter. Women were once allowed down the street, but many women would taunt the women in the windows, and then the prostitutes would spray the women with hoses or slap them! Now, women may only walk down the street if they are lesbians. At the end of the block, you may turn either left or right. Left is the exit, and the right is the entrance to S&M; I learned what that was. There are apparently two kinds of S&M in Germany: white and black. White S&M is a form of role play where say a man will pretend to be a baby and dress in a diaper, and the prostitute ‘puts you to bed’ – weird. Black S&M is where you like “it rough or like to be hurt” – this is where the sadists and masochists go [I learned what these were to]. One is where you like to hurt people, and the other is where you like to be the one who gets hurt. This is the area with the chains, whips, and the like. Our tour guide told us not to judge because “you can’t help what turns you on”; I really tried to keep this in mind throughout the tour.

We went into a replicated prostitute apartment, which had several different themed rooms, which were quite freaky and tacky. We then walked down the street to the police station. Across from the police station is a Burger King. The prostitutes work 8pm-6am. If you want to walk down this street, walk down the police side because there are no prostitutes there. They line up on the Burger King side about 2-3 meters apart. This is apparently the prime location to line up because of the Burger King and the cross walk. If one of the girls walks off to try to get a client and succeeds, the girls move down. If the girl comes back, they go back to their spots. They are very aggressive on that side. They will try to follow you and lure you in. They will not even care if you are walking with your girlfriend.  

Alaine, Amy, and I came back at night to observe exactly how “business” went down (so we sat inside Burger King and watched). Although it was quite horrifying, it was very interesting. All of the prostitutes wear fanny packs!!! They all like to grab onto the men’s arms or rub their hands on their backs. It was very interesting to observe. We actually saw a girl who got a man, who also had a friend, which required another girl. We saw the four of them leave. Amy went back out later that night and saw the girl back in her spot.

Their prices range based on where they work. For brothels, they pay around 135 Euros a night to rent the room, 25 Euros for government tax (because they are a legitimate profession who pays taxes and receives benefits since 2002), and 5 Euros for every client they have (because someone comes in and changes the sheets after they are done). Apparently, these women make roughly 100,000-250,000 Euros a year. The person who changes their sheets makes around 100,000 Euros a year. Their prices start at 30 Euros and go up from there. Prices seem to be similar for the prostitutes on the Street. However, the women in the windows on the special street make much more, starting at 50 Euros and going up from there. The owners of the buildings on that street make around 25,000 Euros on rent a MONTH! That’s crazy!

After this crazy experience, I can’t say that I respect their profession, but I certainly understand the specifics about it more. Prostitution in Germany became legal in 2002. There are 400,000 registered prostitutes in Germany. There are 4,000 in Hamburg, with 5% being men. The men are “call boys”, who charge around 600 Euros a night. Needless to say, I have had my life fill of prostitution after this port.